Families are
divided into several types according to social, economic and local
conditions. The traditional extended and nuclear families
are the two common types of families in Turkey. The traditional extended
family, generally means that three generations live together: grandfather,
adult sons and sons' sons, their wives and their unmarried daughters a
married daughter becomes a member of her husband's family and lives there.
There is a unity of production and consumption together with common
property. This type of family is becoming more and more rare today. The
nuclear family, parallel to industrialization and urbanization, replaces
traditional families. The nuclear family consists of a husband, wife and
unmarried children and is more suitable to modern Turkish social life
today.

There are some economic, traditional and
emotional conditions that form the duties and responsibilities of the
modern nuclear family member. As for the economic conditions, each
individual is supposed to play a part in supporting the continuation of
the family. The father is usually responsible for making the basic income,
the mother may perhaps contribute by working and if not, will assume full-time
take care of the home. Grandparents may also supply help with incomes from
their pension or returns from owned property and rents. Younger children
help with the housework (re-pairing, painting, cleaning) and when older
contribute by usually covering at least their own expenses. Tradition
places the father as the head of the family, but the mother has equal
rights. The father is the representative and protector of the family
whereas the mother takes care of all the day to day things.

As Turkey is essentially an Islamic country,
Islam plays an important role in the lives of women. Having begun in
Arabic countries in 7C AD, Islam was influenced by the traditions and
customs of these countries and the way in which women were treated. Men
could marry or live with as many women as they liked, kill women and even
bury new born girls alive. When Islam made marriage laws and put a limit
on the number of wives allowed, it was accepted as the first system to
give some economic rights to women by saving them from the sole
sovereignty of their husbands.

In Turkey, following the declaration of the
Republic in 1923, one of the most significant elements in the social
revolution planned and advocated by Ataturk was the emancipation of
Turkish women, based on the principle that the new Turkey was to be a
secular state.

In 1926, a new code of Turkish civil law
was adopted which suddenly changed the family structure. Polygamy was
abolished along with religious marriages and divorce and child custody
became the right of both women and men. A minimum age for marriage was
fixed at 15 for girls and 17 for boys. Perhaps most importantly, the
equality of inheritance was accepted as well as the equality of testimony
before a court of law; previously, under Islamic law, the testimony of two
women was equal to that of one man. With the secularization of the
educational system, women gained equal rights with men in the field of
education as well and no longer had to wear the veils and long garments
required by the old religious beliefs. The right to vote for women was
granted at the municipal level in 1930 and nationwide in 1934.
Theoretically, Turkish women were far ahead of many of their western
sisters at that time, for instance in France where women only gained the
right to vote in 1944.

The charter of the International Labor
Organization adopted in 1951, declaring equal wages for both sexes for
equal work was ratified by Turkey in 1966.

Although all the new regulations brought
the status of women to a very improved level, the actual status of women
within the family institution did not provide for proper equality between
men and women. Still today, the husband is the head of the family. A woman
does the housework, and if a woman needs to work outside the home she has
to get the approval of her husband. As a Turkish proverb says "a
husband should know how to bring food and the wife to make it suffice"
confirming once again a woman's place in the home.

Social life consists of two different
places: Inside and outside the home. Women leave the outside world to the
men, generally remaining in the home. Women get married at an earlier age
than men and settle into their role of housewife and home maker. As the
education level of women increases, the fertility rate decreases. Nearly
every female university graduate has only one child.

9 million of the 21 million working
population of Turkey are women. In the rural areas, the rate of working
women, especially in agriculture, is very high. However, women work in
this sector as an extension of their housework and not to make a living.
In urban areas, women hold important posts in both public and private
sectors, the arts and sciences. Today, Turkish women are bank managers,
doctors, lawyers, judges, journalists, pilots, diplomats, police officers,
army officers or prime ministers.

Nearly two thirds of health personnel
including doctors and pharmacists, one quarter of all lawyers and one
third of banking personnel are women.

As for the politics, in the elections of
1937, the number of woman MP's was 18, which meant 4.5%. Today,
unfortunately, this rate is much less than before. However, Turkey has
also seen Tansu Ciller as the first woman Prime Minister.

Although men and women are equal before the
law, men are tolerated in regard to adultery and women are more
advantageous in terms of working conditions.

An important stage
of feminism in Turkey started in the 1980s and is different from the
previous stages because it was initiated by women who spoke for themselves,
rather than by men who had manipulated the female image for their own
political agenda. At this stage of feminism women spoke for themselves,
beginning by arguing the reality of their bodies and their physical needs
as opposed to the idealization and the symbolization of the female body as
used for the national image.

Feminism strongly challenges the image of
some Turkish women as covered, almost sexless beings and also as
sacrificial mothers who would do and endure anything for their children
and family.

To very briefly summarize the position of
women in Turkey today, it can be said that unless you are a woman living
in a metropolitan city and financially independent, life is still likely
to be bound by the customs of traditional family life.

In the traditional family, marriage is still a family rather than a personal
affair.
Marriages are not conducted by the imam anymore as they were before the
republic. By law they have to be civil. Approximately 40% of marriages are
only civil, 50% are both civil and religious, 10% are only religious which
means they are not legal. Polygamy is very rare and only in some villages
with a rate of 3%.

It is legally forbidden to marry before the
age of 15 for women and 17 for men. The average age for girls to marry is
around 17-18. Early marriages are more frequent in rural areas. For young
men in big cities the problems of receiving an education, military service
and acquiring a job are among the reasons that delay marriage.

The continuity of a
family is provided by children. With the development of people's
educational levels, the belief in the continuity only being provided by
sons is losing its effect.

At the pregnancy of a new bride, an
excitement among family members grows. Upon hearing the good news, a
golden bracelet comes immediately as a present from the mother-in-law. In
rural areas a pregnant woman declares it with some symbols mostly on her
clothing; her scarf, motifs on it and suchlike.

For the births, in rural places midwives
are present, whereas in big cities hospitals are common. After the birth,
the new mother receives presents of gold and the child gets all manner of
gifts. Relatives, friends
and neighbors are all helpful. In the first three days only close
relatives come to visit, but in the following days the others also come to
visit with lots of presents. Breast-feeding continues normally until the
age of two or even later and then weaning is sudden.

In Anatolia there is a custom of planting
trees in the names of newly born children. Chestnut, mulberry and apple
trees are planted for girls, poplar or pine trees for boys. Planting trees
for boys is a kind of investment for him to be used in his marriage when
he grows up.

Turkish names always have meanings. Some of
the children's names may derive from the time in which he was born; Bayram
(Feast), Safak (Dawn), Bahar (Spring), Ramazan (the holy month, Ramadan),
or the events during the birth; Yagmur (Rain), Tufan (Storm), or express
the parents' feeling about the child, if they want him to be the last one;
Yeter (Enough), Songul (Last rose) and sometimes names of elder people in
families are chosen as displays of respect.

In
villages, when a name is selected, it is given by an
imam or an elder person in the family by holding the child in the
direction of Mecca (Kible) and reading from the Koran into his left
ear and repeating his name three times into his right ear.

Circumcision is an
operation in which the foreskin of the penis is removed. It is a practice
of great religious significance among certain religious groups, notably
the Jews and the Moslems. Circumcision is known to have been practiced in
ancient Egypt even before it was introduced to the Jews as part of God's
covenant with Abraham. In Islam, however, the authority for circumcision
came not from the Koran but from the example of the Prophet Mohammed. In
Islam, whatever the prophet does or says is called sunnet; therefore
this word stands for circumcision in modern Turkish.

Urologists claim that circumcised males
have far fewer urinary tract infections and are less at risk for catching
sexually transmitted diseases than are uncircumcised males. On the other
side, pediatricians say that the medical risks attendant upon the surgery
far outweigh the possible future consequences of foregoing the operation.

As an Islamic country, in Turkey all Moslem
boys are circumcised between the ages 2-14 by licensed circumcising
surgeons. From the social point of view, the most prominent feature of
circumcision is the introduction of a child to his religious society as a
new member. This explains the reason for circumcision of people who
convert into Moslems as a first step. It is impressed on a boy at a very
early age that circumcision is a step for transition to manhood. As long
as they are accepted as very important events in people's lives,
circumcisions are generally made with big ceremonies in festive atmosphere.

If a family has more than one boy, they
wait for an appropriate time to perform it altogether. In this case the
younger child might be less than 4. In some rural areas, villagers
sometimes share expenses of a circumcision feast like they do with the
work. Wealthy people may take poor boys or orphans together with their
children for circumcision. Charity organizations make collective
ceremonies for poor boys and orphans. Considering school periods of
children, circumcisions are held in summer months while the children are
on vacation, from June through September at weekends.

When a family determines a date for their
feast, they invite relatives, friends and neighbors by sending invitation
cards in advance. Depending on the economic position of families, feasts
might take place in a ceremonial hall or a hotel instead of a house. They
prepare a highly decorated room for the boy with a nice bed and many
colorful decorative things. Boys should also wear special costumes for
this feast; a suit, a cape, a scepter and a special hat with "Masallah",
meaning "God preserve him", written on it.

In the morning of the feast, the children
of guests are all taken for a tour around in a big convoy with the boy
either on horseback, horse carts, or automobiles. This convoy is also
followed by musicians playing the drums and the clarinet.

After they come back, the boy wears a loose
long white dress and, is circumcised by the surgeon while somebody holds
him. This person who holds is called kirve, and has to be
somebody close to the boy. In the eastern parts of Anatolia, this is the
first contact of a big relationship which will continue for lifetime. He
will play an active role in the boy's lifetime and have nearly equal
rights with the father in decisions. This is similar to a godfather in
Christianity. Although there is no blood relation to his kirve, the boy
will not even be allowed to marry his kirve's daughter in order not to
have incest because he is considered to have become somebody from the
family.

After the circumcision, the boy is in pain
and has to be kept busy with music, lots of jokes or some other animation.
Presents also are given at this time to help him forget his pains. In the
meantime words from the Koran are recited and guests are taken to tables
for the feast meal which is a special one laid with different food
changing from region to region. After a few days the boy recovers and
festivities end.

Today, there is a small group of people who
prefer their children to be circumcised in hospitals while they are in
hospital after birth, whereby ignoring the traditional side.

Divorce is not very common. Although many
women are not satisfied with their marriages, they do not have the courage
to divorce. Therefore they continue their lives for their children's sake
or not to suffer from the social pressure it may evoke.

The other reason is economic. If a woman
does not work, she does not have many alternatives when divorced. After a
certain age, in a country where employment is a problem, it is really a
risk to survive.

From the legal point of view, when couples
divorce, each of them gets his own belongings without taking the things
obtained together into consideration. The new law has brought the equally
sharing of the goods obtained during marriage.

Throughout the ages in Anatolia, many
different rituals regarding death and burial have been applied. Types of
graves have differed. Graves under the floors of houses, wooden rooms,
tumuli, chamber-like graves, rock-tombs, sarcophagi, domed or conical
tombs (turbe, kumbet) and mausoleums are some places where the dead
have been laid.

Although it is difficult, death is
considered to be as a natural part or aspect of life. There are many
people who prepare themselves for death by putting necessary amount of
money for funerals in their bank accounts, keeping winding sheets ready,
or buying land in a cemetery in advance. Dying as martyrs is an honorable
thing. In Islam, it is believed that martyrs go directly to heaven.

When somebody dies, the corpse is laid on a
bed in a separate room, the head facing the direction of Mecca, eyelids
closed, the big toes are tied to each other and the two arms rest on both
sides next to the body. Burial has to take place as soon as possible
during the daytime. If somebody dies in the late afternoon, he is buried
the next day. The corpse might rest for a period of time in a cool place
or a mortuary but only if there are close relatives coming from a far away
place.

According to religious belief, if somebody
is buried without an ablution, he is not allowed to enter heaven.
Therefore, dead people have to be washed by authorized people, and always
women by a woman, men by a man. Meanwhile the death is declared from a
mosque minaret by a muezzin with some words from the Koran together with
his name, funeral time and place. After the ablution the corpse is dressed
in a white shroud, put in a wooden coffin covered with a green piece of
cloth. A martyr's coffin is covered with the Turkish flag. The coffin is
carried to the table outside in the courtyard of a mosque on people's
shoulders before prayers. Nobody stands in front of the funeral procession
and people in the street stand up and salute the funeral motionless and in
silence.

While the coffin rests guarded on the table
outside, people perform their regular prayers. From within the mosque,
following the prayers, they all come out and line up in front of the
coffin to take part in the funeral service under the leadership of the
Imam. Women are not allowed to join this service. At the end of the
service, the Imam asks people what they thought of the deceased and
answers are always positive: "He was good. May God bless him. Mercy
be upon his soul, etc." Funeral services are not held for parricides
or the stillborn.

The coffin is carried to the cemetery by a
hearse followed by a long convoy. Graves are rectangular in shape and
designed to accommodate only one person. The deceased is buried in only
the shroud not the coffin. The body is laid on its right shoulder facing
the direction of Mecca. The tombstone is on the head's side.

The Imam's prayers signify the end of the
burial. The deceased is commemorated on the seventh and fifty-second days
of his death with Islamic readings; mevlit. Sometimes big funerary
meals or halvah are offered to the poor and surrounding people.

The young population is the most dynamic and sensitive group in Turkey. The
number of youth in the 12-24 age group constitutes 31 percent of the population
in Turkey, which has a rather young population. Today, problems related to youth
are among the important subjects dwelled upon on the agenda of Turkey. The
expectations for the future of youth has been increasing gradually. The State
engages in activities with the cooperation of national and international
institutions, organizations and universities in order to determine the problems
of the youth and to find solutions to these problems, within the framework of
the economic, social and cultural structure. Significant progress has started to
be made in recent years on the subject of the organization of youth by means of
foundations, associations and youth organizations in the social and cultural
fields.

The State and
Youth. The services on subjects, such as education, health,
working life, social security, employment, cultural life, utilization of free
time and protection from harmful habits of the youth are provided by different
ministries. Close to 14 ministries are directly involved with these subjects and
other ministries, institutions and organizations are indirectly involved. It is
planned to establish a Higher Council of Youth, formed by the representatives of
public institutions and organizations and private organizations engaged in
providing services for youth because these services and activities are
multi-faceted and involve many institutions and organizations. Thus, it is
projected that youth services will be carried out in a more effective manner and
their productivity will be increased.

The utilization of the free time of youth is carried out by the General
Directorate of Youth and Sports. The General Directorate besides providing
sports services and activities, also provides services to youth and coordination
of activities such as youth camps, youth centers, youth clubs and international
organizations.
The Youth Centers are cultural institutions that provide the opportunity and
prepare the environment for utilizing the free time of youth in social, cultural
and sports activities connected to the Provincial Directorates of Youth and
Sports. These centers organize activities to increase the knowledge and
capabilities of the youth in various fields, such as art, science, sports,
cartoon and handicrafts, and awards youth in these fields. The Youth Centers
which also provide guidance and consultation services to assist in the solution
of youth problems, organize various activities which provide the opportunity for
youth to exhibit what they have done throughout the year. Furthermore, they
inform the youth to protect them from harmful habits through conferences, panel
discussions, symposia, competitions and other activities. Positive results have
been obtained from the activities made to increase the functions of the youth
centers, and to have more youth become members of these centers. A total of 104
youth centers with 22,000 members are active in Turkey's provincial and county
centers as of 2000. The youth in the country is also provided with guidance
services through 52 Youth Information and Guidance Bureaus.

The celebration ceremonies of the "19 May
Youth and Sports Holiday" that was presented to youth by Atatürk.

Central and Regional Youth Camps organized by the General Directorate of
Youth and Sports in the summer, provide the opportunity for the utilization of
the free time of the youth outside of their fields of education and work. In
1999, 6,293 young people attended the youth camps numbering 14.

The week, including the "19 May Commemoration of Atatürk, and Youth and
Sports Holiday", has been celebrated as "Youth Week" in Turkey
since 1983. Youth Week helps young people between 12-24 years of age living in
the cities, towns and villages to get together every year and engage in
cultural, artistic and sports activities in an atmosphere of fraternity and
friendship and to become acquainted with each other. Youth Week have been
celebrated at an international level since 1998.

The General Directorate of the Institution of Higher Education Loans and
Dormitories was established in 1962 to solve the loan and housing problems and
give assistance for the education of the youth in higher education. Student
Information Offices have been established in large cities, in order to provide
the various needs of youth who are attending schools. Dormitories and student
boarding houses give services to solve the housing needs of the students
receiving higher education.

International
Activities. Turkey is cooperating and coordinating on the
subject of youth services with international organizations such as the CDEJ,
DSJ, UNESCO, ECO, and especially the European Council. Young people are
encouraged to participate in the international organizations and activities
organized for youth. Furthermore, an opportunity is provided for cultural and
information exchange among youth through the Youth Exchange Programs made with
foreign countries. Within the framework of these activities, the Youth Exchange
Programs that were envisaged in the "Cooperation Protocol on Policies
Related to Youth", which was signed in Ankara with the Federal Republic of
Germany in 1994, are continuing. As of 2000, besides Germany, the youth exchange
programs with countries like Japan,
Jordan, Morocco and Philistine are also organized. Since 1998 courses have been
started to be arranged with the aim of educating international youth leaders
able to organize Youth Exchange Programs.